| Course | GB601 MBA Capstone |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 3 |
| Paper type | Industry and market analysis |
| Length | About 1,140 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB601 Unit 3
Share, Not a Shrinking Market: A Unit 3 Industry and Market Analysis for the Brightwater Formalwear Capstone
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GB601: MBA Capstone
Unit 3 Industry and Market Analysis
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Brightwater Formalwear, its market estimates and every figure are composite and illustrative; the public data sources and frameworks cited are real.
Share or Market? The Decomposition
Over the four years from FY2022 to FY2026, the company's wedding and prom rentals dropped by roughly 5,620, from about 21,420 to 15,800. The question for this unit is how much of that loss came from a smaller market and how much from a smaller share of it.
Total wedding and prom formalwear rentals in the seven-county area were estimated from public data and company records. Wedding rentals were estimated from marriages recorded in the seven counties by the Ohio Department of Health, multiplied by the share of weddings in which men rent formalwear and the average number of rented outfits per wedding party, both drawn from Brightwater's records and its interviews with planners. Prom rentals were estimated from state counts of eleventh and twelfth graders in the area's districts, multiplied by prom attendance and the share of attendees who rent.
On those estimates, the area's total rentals fell from about 31,500 in FY2022, roughly 16,400 for weddings and 15,100 for proms, to about 29,800 in FY2026, roughly 15,700 for weddings and 14,100 for proms. Brightwater's share fell from about 68 percent to about 53 percent.
Separating the two effects: had Brightwater kept its 68 percent share of the smaller FY2026 market, it would have lost only about 1,160 rentals. The remaining 4,470, about 79 percent of the loss, reflect share. The result holds under the sensitivity test promised in Unit 2. If the share of weddings with rented formalwear is set at 40 percent instead of 50, or at 60, the share effect stays between 72 and 84 percent of the loss.
Brightwater is not losing rentals because fewer couples marry or fewer students go to prom; it is losing them to other places.
Four Ways a Customer Gets Formalwear
Porter (1980) recommends analyzing an industry by the forces that shape its competition, and in this market the most important force is the range of substitutes for a local rental.
Local formalwear rental. Brightwater and two smaller independent shops rent from stores with in-person fitting, alterations and pickup. Their advantage is fit and service; their limit is that every member of a wedding party must visit a store.
National online renters. Several national companies rent suits and tuxedos online, ship them to each customer's home and include a return label. Customers measure themselves or visit a partner location. Their advantage is convenience for wedding parties spread across cities; their limit is fit, since a wrong size discovered the day before an event can be hard to fix.
National menswear chains. At least one national menswear retailer rents formalwear through stores in the area, combining in-person fitting with national reach for out-of-town party members.
Buying instead of renting. Low-cost suits sold online and through discount retailers now cost little more than a rental package. Some grooms, and some prom-goers, buy a suit they can wear again.
How Each Provider Has Changed Since FY2022
The four groups have not stood still. Brightwater's two local independent rivals have each closed one store since FY2022, and both now refer out-of-town groomsmen to national online renters rather than trying to serve them. The national online renters have expanded their partner networks, adding fitting appointments at tailors and menswear shops in Columbus, though none of those partners stocks backup suits for the day of an event. The national menswear chain has kept its two area stores but shortened rental hours on weekdays. And the price of a basic suit sold online has fallen in real terms, so for a prom-goer the gap between renting and buying is now about . Each change pushes in the same direction: customers who used to rent locally now have more alternatives, and the local rivals that might have competed with Brightwater for them are retreating. That pattern explains why Brightwater's share fell faster than the local market shrank, even though the company's own service quality, by its fitting and complaint records, did not decline, and why the response must be aimed at the customers the national renters are winning, especially wedding parties whose members live in different cities.
Demand: Customers Already Born
Demand for prom rentals in FY2031 depends on students who are already in school. Enrollment in the area's elementary and middle schools, which will make up the grade 11 and 12 classes of FY2027 through FY2031, is slightly below current high school enrollment, suggesting a decline in prom demand of about 1 percent a year. Weddings are harder to project. National marriage rates, published by the National Center for Health Statistics, rebounded after 2020 and have since been roughly stable (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.), and the area's population is growing modestly. The analysis projects wedding rentals to decline slowly, about 1 percent a year, as more weddings choose casual attire. Total market rentals are projected at about 28,300 in FY2031, roughly 5 percent below FY2026.
Seasonality
Demand is also highly seasonal, which matters for any response. Proms cluster in April and May, and about 70 percent of Brightwater's wedding rentals fall between May and October. A response that is not ready before the spring prom season loses most of a year's effect on prom rentals, and one not ready before engagement season, when couples begin planning in December and January, loses much of the following year's weddings.
Pressures on the Supply Side
Most tailored clothing sold in the United States is imported, and tariff increases on imported apparel in 2025 raised the cost of new rental inventory. Brightwater replaces about a fifth of its garments each year, so higher costs flow through to the cost of every rental within a few years. National online renters face the same costs but spread them over larger volumes. Shipping costs also matter more to online renters than to local stores, since every rental travels twice.
What the Numbers Rule Out
The analysis rules out two responses that the company has discussed. A response aimed only at cutting costs would not address a share problem; it would make each rental cheaper while the count kept falling. A response that waits for the market to recover would wait for something the data do not support. Kotler and Keller (2016) distinguish market potential from a company's share of it, and here the potential is shrinking slowly while the share is falling fast. Any response must therefore win back customers who are now choosing other providers. Unit 4 examines why they chose them.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Marriage and divorce. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/marriage-divorce.htm
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed.). Pearson.
Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. Free Press.
Reading the GB 601 Unit 3 instructions
Unit 3 of GB601 asks you to analyze the industry and market around your capstone problem. Size the relevant market with the best data available, showing the arithmetic when you must estimate it from parts. Determine how much of the organization's problem comes from market change and how much from its own position, and test that finding against your weakest assumption. Describe the competitors and substitutes that serve your customers, with the advantage and limit of each. Project demand over the capstone's time frame. Note supply-side pressures and any seasonality that will shape the alternatives. Close by saying what the numbers rule out. Sections commonly expect about eight pages for this GB601 milestone, with every dataset cited in APA 7.
Inside the GB601 Unit 3 example
The analysis opens with a decomposition, estimating wedding rentals from Ohio marriages and prom rentals from state counts of eleventh and twelfth graders, and the highlighted sentence says Brightwater is losing rentals to other places. A sensitivity test at 40 and 60 percent keeps the share effect between 72 and 84 percent. Porter frames four provider types: local shops, national online renters, a menswear chain and buying instead. A section shows how each has changed since FY2022. Demand is projected from enrolled students and CDC marriage data, seasonality is described, and tariffs on imported tailored clothing are noted. Kotler and Keller's distinction between market potential and share closes the paper.
Reading the GB601 Unit 3 grading rubric
GB601 instructors give heavy weight in this unit to the decomposition of the problem into market and share effects, because it tells the capstone what kind of response is needed. Market sizing with transparent arithmetic earns credit where published figures do not exist. Testing the main finding against the weakest assumption shows rigor. A competitor and substitute section that names each group's advantage and limit demonstrates understanding of the industry. Demand projections grounded in data, and attention to supply pressures and seasonality, show the analysis looks forward. A conclusion stating what the numbers rule out links the unit to the decision. Readable tables of the market estimate and correct APA 7 references for every public dataset take the last points.
GB601 Unit 3 help from the desk
Many GB601 market analyses describe the national industry at length and never size the local market the organization actually serves. Others report a market figure without showing how it was built, so the instructor cannot check it. A common gap is skipping the split between market decline and share loss, which leaves the capstone unsure whether to cut costs or win customers back. Competitor sections often list names without saying what each does better or worse. Seasonality is frequently ignored though it shapes every later timeline. Size the market you serve, show the math, separate market from share, test your weakest assumption, describe each rival's edge and state what the numbers exclude. A free custom market analysis can be requested here.
Get a GB601 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Share the firm and the question carried out of Units 1 and 2, the market you intend to size, and this unit's instructions with the rubric. The custom analysis, delivered within 24-48h, separates market change from share change and cites a source for each figure. The first one is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More GB601 papers and MBA samples
- GB601 Unit 1: Problem Statement and Scope
- GB601 Unit 2: Research Plan
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- GB601 Unit 5: Financial Projections
- GB601 Unit 6: Strategic Alternatives Comparison
- GB601 Unit 7: Implementation Roadmap
- GB601 Unit 8: Risk and Contingency Analysis
- GB601 Unit 9: Integrated Capstone Document
- GB601 Unit 10: Capstone Defense Presentation
- GB600 Unit 3: Leadership Case Analysis
- GB590 Unit 3: Stakeholder Map
- GB580 Unit 3: Five Forces Industry Analysis
- GB570 Unit 3: Margin Analysis
GB601 Unit 3 questions, answered
Should the GB601 market analysis cover the whole industry?
Only as much of it as the problem touches. A national industry overview can frame the section in a paragraph, but the analysis earns credit on the market the chosen organization actually serves, defined by product, customer and geography. Drawing that boundary early keeps the sizing honest and stops the section turning into a report on an industry nobody asked about.
What if reliable market data do not exist for a small market?
Estimate it from pieces that do exist and show the arithmetic. Public enrollment, census or licensing data often supply the customer count, and a stated purchase or participation rate turns that into a market. Bracketing estimated figures and naming the weakest assumption reads as rigor; a precise-looking number with no source reads as invention.
Can frameworks like PESTEL or five forces replace this analysis?
They can organize parts of it, and some sections ask for one by name. On their own they describe an environment without measuring a market, so a capstone usually needs both: a framework for the forces acting on the industry and numbers for the customers the organization can realistically serve over the planning horizon.
Where can I find a free GB601 Unit 3 sample paper?
This page holds a full GB601 Unit 3 industry and market analysis for a composite formalwear chain, with a market estimate, a share-versus-market decomposition, four provider types, demand projections and seasonality.
How do I separate market decline from share loss?
Estimate the market in two years, then ask how many sales the organization would have lost if it had kept its earlier share of the smaller market. The rest of the loss is share.